Firstly. Happy Birthday Mothership. Hope you have a terrific day. We can't wait to celebrate with you over here!

The day starts early. Too early. Justin and Jennie and the girls stayed over and Justin wakes up happy and raring to go. I only every wake up in slow motion and take a moment to defrost so I wander around confused for bit.

Justin hypes up the kids, whilst I rustle up bacon sandwiches and toast.

We also take the kids hand prints for a little project, so we manage to cover them all in paint and ink.

Justin and Jennie hit the road around 6.30ish and Noah and I drink coffee like crazy desperate people

. We finish up the blog and tidy up and Noah takes Woody out to the park to expel some energy. I pack up our stuff for the day.

When the fells get back we make our way to Broadbeach. Noah and I are craving some sun and sand. We love it. I sit on the beach and sip the world’s most delicious latte and listen to my audiobook and feel very happy and lucky. Noah has a latte too and inhales a massive muffin. Woody digs a huge hole and plays with his tonka truck. He looks for treasure on the beach and pops it into the hole. He is very happy. We all are.

We head back home and have quick showers and head back out the door. We are going to see Helen in Manly. Woody packs up the toys he wants to take to Helen’s. He decides to take a collection of figures, a cash register, a hat and an apron. He tells me that he is taking all these things to Helens because he is going to try and sell her some toys. He continues to tell me that his Buzz Lightyear on a skateboard toy is too small, so he is going to sell Helen some of his old toys so that he can buy a bigger Buzz on a skateboard. I say that is fine and he should definitely give it a shot. Woody the entrepreneur is feeling very optimistic.

So Woody is supposed to sleep in the car, but he doesn’t. He is probably thinking about all the money he is going to make.

Woody is very excited about arriving at Helens, but not as excited as me! Helen’s house opens up at the back onto a veranda which overlooks Manly Harbour

. Noah, Helen, Tom and I sit and eat and drink wine and watch the boats. You can see out to about half a dozen islands. It is beautiful.

We have many, many years to catch up on so we talk nonstop. We flit between conversations trying to make sure nothing gets overlooked.

Woody is very happy for a few reasons. Firstly, Helen has a Wiggles DVD that we do not have at home. I think Woody remembers this from last time we visited. Secondly, Helen has lots and lots of little presents for Woody and she spaces them out throughout the afternoon so we always have a distraction on hand for Woody. Love your work Helen. Thirdly, when we have all had desert Helen leaves the ice cream and raspberries on the table so Woody can keep coming back to the table and help himself to seconds, thirds, and to be honest, probably fourths. But there is lovely wine and conversation – so we are not bothered.

We chat about the places we have been and the places we will go. We chat about Italy, Slovenia, Germany, the Carolinas, Tennessee and my mind is racing about future holidays. This is dangerous territory for me and Noah. We both have a little case of the 'wanderlust’ and it does not take much to get us thinking...

We say our goodbyes, and get in the car and head off. In the car Woody tells Noah and I that next time we see Helen and Tom he is going to go out on Tom’s boat. He says Tom, Noah and he are going to take drums and a guitar and they are going to start a band on the boat

. He is very serious about this and is really looking forward to the ‘band on the boat’. Tom?

We head towards the coast and about half way along the journey we turn into the Drive In at Yatala. This is the drive in I went to as a kid. We really wanted to go to a drive-in on Route 66 but we were never in the right place at the right time. So we do not miss this chance to watch the Muppets. We eat snacks and Woody eats hot dogs and we do enjoy the movie. The songs are hilarious. It is very Flight of the Concords. There is a great song, ‘am I a muppet or a man (or just a muppet of man)’. Brilliant.

The drive in experience is terrific. It is full of families. Deck chairs by the car, mattresses on the bitumen, and bodies in utes. Woody really loves it, and hangs out the window trying to start conversation with the people in the ute next door. We will definitely de going again.

We get home, try and chat with Laoidhe on the computer but Woody has a brief meltdown before he goes to sleep. We all doze off, happily having a very wonderful day.

Comments

Helen
on Jan 22, 2012 at 12:46AM

I was going to wake you up so you could get started. I dreamt about the blog no kidding! Loved seeing you guys. Happy birthday Di. Xx

Tom
on Jan 22, 2012 at 03:55AM

HI Woody, you can use my boat for your band but you have to name the band after me- "tom's band" or maybe "Tom and Woody's boat band". I am only allowing you to use "wind" instruments as we have plenty of wind on the boat . When you are here next time we will go and try out the band, bye for now Captain Woody, from deckhand Tom.